Sainsbury's Bank plc is a British bank wholly owned by

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

. The bank began trading on 19 February 1997 as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Sainsbury's and

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

. Sainsbury's took full ownership of the bank in January 2014. The bank's head office is located in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, and its registered office in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. In 2017 it had over 2.1 million active customers.

History

Sainsbury's and

(later a subsidiary of

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

) formed the bank as a joint venture, and it received a full banking licence from the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

in January 1997. It launched on 19 February 1997. On 8 May 2013, Sainsbury's announced it would buy the 50% share in the business owned by Lloyds Banking Group. The transfer was completed on 31 January 2014, and Sainsbury's Bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sainsbury's. In January 2024, Sainsbury’s announced its intention to phase out its banking division. In June 2024, it was announced the credit cards, loans and savings accounts were to be acquired by

NatWest National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...

. The Sainsbury's Bank brand, its cash machines, insurance and travel money businesses were not included. On 16 April 2025 the High Court approved the transfer of accounts to NatWest, which took legal effect on 1 May 2025, though the accounts will continue to be serviced by Sainsbury's Bank until being moved to NatWest systems - which is expected to complete by the end of 2025.

Services

The bank provides a range of financial products including travel money, insurance, credit cards, savings and loans, having withdrawn from the mortgage market in 2019. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...

and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Sainsbury's Bank products are linked to the Nectar reward scheme and can be applied for online or by telephone.

Finances

In the 2019-20 financial year, the bank had an income of £323 million, customer deposits of £6.3 billion, and total assets of £9.4 billion.

References

External links

* {{Commercial and retail banks in the United Kingdom Banks established in 1997 Banks of Scotland Banks of the United Kingdom Companies based in Edinburgh Sainsbury's Supermarket banks 1997 establishments in Scotland